Among the many relationships of numbers that have fascinated man are those that suggest (or were derived from) the arrangement of points representing numbers into series of geometrical figures. Such numbers, known as figurate or polygonal numbers, appeared in 15th-century arithmetic books and were probably known to the ancient Chinese; but they were of especial interest to the ancient Greek mathematicians. To the Pythagoreans (c. 500 bce), numbers were of paramount significance; everything could be explained by numbers, and numbers were invested with specific characteristics and personalities. Among other properties of numbers, the Pythagoreans recognized that numbers had “shapes.” Thus, the triangular numbers, 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, etc., were visualized as points or dots arranged in the shape of a triangle.

Square numbers are the squares of natural numbers, such as 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, etc., and can be represented by square arrays of dots, as shown in Figure 1. Inspection reveals that the sum of any two adjacent triangular numbers is always a square number.

Oblong numbers are the numbers of dots that can be placed in rows and columns in a rectangular array, each row containing one more dot than each column. The first few oblong numbers are 2, 6, 12, 20, and 30. This series of numbers is the successive sums of the series of even numbers or the products of two consecutive numbers: 2 = 1·2; 6 = 2·3 = 2 + 4; 12 = 3·4 = 2 + 4 + 6; 20 = 4·5 = 2 + 4 + 6 + 8; etc. An oblong number also is formed by doubling any triangular number (seeFigure 2).

The gnomons include all of the odd numbers; these can be represented by a right angle, or a carpenter’s square, as illustrated in Figure 3. Gnomons were extremely useful to the Pythagoreans. They could build up squares by adding gnomons to smaller squares and from such a figure could deduce many interrelationships: thus 12 + 3 = 22, 22 + 5 = 32, etc.; or 1 + 3 + 5 = 32, 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 42, 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 = 52, etc. Indeed, it is quite likely that Pythagoras first realized the famous relationship between the sides of a right triangle, represented by a2 + b2 = c2, by contemplating the properties of gnomons and square numbers, observing that any odd square can be added to some even square to form a third square. Thus

Besides these, the Greeks also studied numbers having pentagonal, hexagonal, and other shapes. Many relationships can be shown to exist between these geometric patterns and algebraic expressions.

Polygonal numbers constitute a subdivision of a class of numbers known as figurate numbers. Examples include the arithmetic sequences

When new series are formed from the sums of the terms of these series, the results are, respectively,

These series are not arithmetic sequences but are seen to be the polygonal triangular and square numbers. Polygonal number series can also be added to form threedimensional figurate numbers; these sequences are called pyramidal numbers.

The significance of polygonal and figurate numbers lies in their relation to the modern theory of numbers. Even the simple, elementary properties and relations of numbers often demand sophisticated mathematical tools. Thus, it has been shown that every integer is either a triangular number, the sum of two triangular numbers, or the sum of three triangular numbers: e.g., 8 = 1 + 1 + 6, 42 = 6 + 36, 43 = 15 + 28, 44 = 6 + 10 + 28.

Pythagorean triples

The study of Pythagorean triples as well as the general theorem of Pythagoras leads to many unexpected byways in mathematics. A Pythagorean triple is formed by the measures of the sides of an integral right triangle—i.e., any set of three positive integers such that a2 + b2 = c2. If a, b, and c are relatively prime—i.e., if no two of them have a common factor—the set is a primitive Pythagorean triple.

A formula for generating all primitive Pythagorean triples is

in which p and q are relatively prime, p and q are neither both even nor both odd, and p > q. By choosing p and q appropriately, for example, primitive Pythagorean triples such as the following are obtained:

The only primitive triple that consists of consecutive integers is 3, 4, 5.

Certain characteristic properties are of interest:

1. Either a or b is divisible by 3.

2. Either a or b is divisible by 4.

3. Either a or b or c is divisible by 5.

4. The product of a, b, and c is divisible by 60.

5. One of the quantities a, b, a + b, a - b is divisible by 7.

It is also true that if n is any integer, then 2n + 1, 2n2 + 2n, and 2n2 + 2n + 1 form a Pythagorean triple.

Certain properties of Pythagorean triples were known to the ancient Greeks—e.g., that the hypotenuse of a primitive triple is always an odd integer. It is now known that an odd integer R is the hypotenuse of such a triple if and only if every prime factor of R is of the form 4k + 1, where k is a positive integer.

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